Long road for dialysis help
A SEVENTY- two- year- old Charters Towers man who has to drive his wife 820km a week for renal dialysis in Townsville says he feels “painted into a corner” by the state health system.
Bob Jenkin’s wife Pam has late stage renal failure and can no longer travel by bus to the Townsville Hospital and Health Service for the treatment.
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday Mr Jenkin drives Pam, 69, to Townsville so she can be attached to a dialysis machine. Later that same day he drives her home.
“It’s hard on Pam and I worry about the driving – there are a lot of trucks on the road now,” Mr Jenkin said.
He said the bus used to transfer patients from Charters Towers was not equipped to suit his wife’s needs.
“There is no lifting device for people on crutches or who have difficulties walking. Pam can’t walk up stairs without assistance from me.”
Mr Jenkin said he believed the Townsville Hospital hierarchy were more interested in creating a centralised renal facility in Townsville than they were in helping patients in outlying areas. “My wife has late- stage renal failure and might not have long to live,” he said.
“As far as I am concerned the doctors and nurses at the hospital are fantastic. I can’t say enough good things about them, but the administrators, the people who run the hospital, have no heart and no idea. I doubt they even know what sort of bus is being used to bring people down from Charters Towers,” he said.
Mr Jenkin said he and Pam were not in a position to move to Townsville in order to be closer to treatment because of both the cost and a desire to stay in Charters Towers.
“( Pam) doesn’t want to leave her home. A person’s home is their castle. She wants to stay in her home,” he said.
Mr Jenkin said he was in need of hip replacement surgery, but had to forgo the operation so that he could continue to drive his wife to Townsville. “I’ve got to keep driving Pam. We’ve been painted into a corner,” Mr Jenkin said.
A spokesman for Queensland Health said decisions about future renal dialysis services would be informed by a statewide review of renal clinical services that is due to be delivered at the end of this year.
“This review will examine various options for improving the delivery or renal dialysis services to Queensland communities, as well as new ways of delivering these services,” he said.
The spokesman said nurse- assisted satellite services were provided in some rural and remote areas where there was sufficient demand.
“Nurse- assisted dialysis requires on- site medical support, specialised nursing staff and access to a consistent number of patients over an extended period to be sustainable,” he said.
The spokesman said some patients might be able to dialyse themselves in a home setting depending on their clinical condition.